Atlas
by Holiday Thorne
Summary: Everyone knows of Naruto Uzumaki, the child of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the one who brought the whole world together - including the biju. But what if he died at birth, not able to survive? What if he was replaced by a younger twin, who has the Kyuubi sealed inside of her instead? What happens when the world no longer has its hero?
1. Part 1: North

**Full description:** ** _Watashi no kata ni sekai no jūryō . . .  
_** ** _Terror. Unbridled terror. The realization has dawned upon me, the knowledge of where I am and what has happened to me - it has only fueled my desire to flee this place, leave this life behind. But . . . I can't. I can't let myself flee and leave them behind; that is not who I am.  
_** **When she had lost her life in her fight against a rare and deadly disease of the blood, she was content to disappear into the Eternal Void that is Death. However, the Fates had much greater plans for her existence.  
** **Now, reborn into a new life and a new existence, she finds that she has replaced the hero of this world, the Chosen One, the prophecy child: Naruto Uzumaki - now suddenly a female. And now she has to find a way to save this world, and all of the people in it - all while playing the appropriate part. Or not.**

 **I know, I know! You guys are probably super annoyed that I'm starting _another_ story, but this was just _begging_ to be written.**

 **I'm sure you have read some fanfiction that this is similar to, that has the same idea behind it, but I promise you that this one will be different. Promise.**

 **Disclaimer: I cannot claim _Naruto_ ; that's Kishimoto-sensei's toy - I'm just playing with it.**

* * *

 ** _Atlas_**

 **Part** **1**  
 ** _North_**

* * *

 _"Which way do I go?" he inquires, looking about with a distinct lack of curiosity, as if he has already seen all this world had to offer and more. The look on his face holds the definite suggestion of a lack of him being impressed; he is not impressed, not with anything in this world or outside of it._

 _It is a surprisingly mature look for one so young, that knowing, experienced gleam in his eyes accompanied by an emotionless look upon his face._

 _I shrug, uncaring as I sheathe my katana. "I suppose it depends on where you want to go, and whether or not you want to go anywhere at all," I reply easily enough, wiping a smear of blood from my cheeks._

 _"I want to go home."_

 _I smile humorlessly. "There is no such thing as home - didn't you know that? Not anymore."_

 _He stares at me, his uncannily intelligent eyes gleaming in the dim light my fire provides - flickering as it is. He waits for me to answer, never looking away from me._

 _I remain silent as well, regarding him as he regards me - in the silent breath of the night, when the stars gleam overhead into the twilit blanket of night. After a long moment of silence, I smile at him again, a mocking tilt to my lips. "North," I answer simply, packing up and preparing to leave the camp._

 _"What?"_

 _"If you want to go home, go North," I repeat, giving him one last glance. My smile morphs into something kinder, a gentle look that speaks of understanding._

 _"That's your way **home**."_

* * *

 **And such begins the story of the Fem!Naruto, whose name I have not decided yet. What do you guys think her name should be? Take into mind, though, that she can't have the name 'Naruto' or a name similar to it; she's got a bit of a complicated back-story. But I want you guys' opinion and advice, so please let me know.**

 **Question: Most heroic character in _Naruto_? Like who is your hero?**

 **Well, I've got to go now! Bye!**


	2. Prologue: Discovery

**Look! You're getting the next chapter so soon! Are you ready!?**

 **WolfOfRedemption: Thank you for being interested in my fanfiction; it's a huge compliment to me, and it means a lot! As for what's happening in the italics, it's a bit of a peek into the future, but it's also a little bit of something more; you'll find out if you keep reading, not that you have to. Thank you again for all of the compliments; I hope you continue to enjoy the story. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_ , despite my arguments with Kishimoto-sensei (the language barrier _always_ gets in the way of our arguments, dammit!). I'm just playing with his toy.**

* * *

 _ **Atlas**_

 **Prologue  
 _Discovery_**

* * *

 _"_ _Humans . . . Do humans have a purpose when they are born? I have been wondering recently. Because they are born, do they have an important duty? The meaning of being born . . . For humans to find that answer . . . It is the one freedom God gave them."  
_ _― Kimimaro, **Naruto**_

* * *

MY name is Kohaku Uzumaki, and I want to tell you a story.

It begins before Kohaku, or I I suppose, was born, had even been conceived in thought - let alone physically; it begins with a 24-year old woman getting the worst news of her life.

In my old life, I had had my difficulties; loss and struggle, they were familiar enough terms and things that I had lived through.

I had never known my parents - not well, at least, and was thus left to my grandparents as their responsibility when they died, since no one else in my family wanted to take care of a child - young or otherwise. And yet, despite a young child, barely a few years old, being shunted off into their care, as their responsibility, my grandparents never took their frustrations with the legal system, with the rest of the family for abandoning me, out on me.

They treated me as their own child, and I began to see them as my own parents, feel as though they had always been just that, despite knowing the truth in my head. After all, there is a huge difference between knowing something and believing it.

However, the complete family that I had was soon destroyed by a disease, known as microscopic polyangiitis; the disease stole the life of my grandfather, leaving my grandmother and I behind in the world of the living. It hurt; the loss stung deeply, despite the losses I had already experienced with the death and abandonment of my parents.

But life went on, and my grandmother raised me as well as she could on her own; I did my best to help out around the house, had a few jobs to earn some money in order to help her with the finances, and I still kept good grades in school. I was offered a scholarship at an excellent college and accepted, making a career out of my major - pediatrics and medicine.

I lived to 22 years of age until the most devastating information became known to me; I was dying. I had the same disease that my grandfather had, the one he hadn't survived, and I knew then, even if the doctor giving me the diagnosis was cheery and positive about it, that I would not survive.

I wasn't exactly wrong.

I survived another two years, leaving my job behind and focusing on learning all about my disease, doing my best to create a cure. I had nearly succeeded when I was hospitalized again, though this time was the last.

I died in a surprisingly comfortable hospital bed, surrounded by the ones I loved. Despite the pain caused by the microscopic polyangiitis, it was a surprisingly peaceful death; I simply . . . _slid away_.

I don't know what happened after my death; it's as if pieces of my memory were cut out of my mind. I don't know if I don't remember because my mind is trying to protect itself or I am simply not meant to know what the afterlife is like, if I even went there, but I simply cannot recall the events that must have occurred then.

But I do know this: sometime after my death, I was reincarnated, reborn into another body and another life.

Of course, I could be wrong, but of this I am pretty sure: in this world, there is no Naruto Uzumaki.

From what I can tell, there was, at one time, but he never survived more than a few hours; some unknown force killed him, even before the Nine Tailed Fox was sealed inside of him, and it may have been the ripples my existence in this world caused. I was his twin, younger by only a few minutes, and as I was the one that survived, I had the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside of me instead.

My name is Kohaku Uzumaki, and this is my story.

* * *

 **So I decided on Kohaku; that just seems like something that Kushina and Minato would choose, you know? I thought that it fit, also; Naruto and Kohaku, as names the two go well together.**

 **Anyway, now that you've sort of met her, what do you think? I know that she's probably a little bit cliche and all that so far, but I hope that as you guys see her grow, she won't seem that way anymore.**

 **Answer: There are a lot of heroic characters in _Naruto_ , but as you guys can probably guess, I have to pick Itachi. There's just something special about sacrificing everything for the village, for your younger brother. In my opinion, no one is more noble or more heroic than him; as Tobito said, he accepted hate instead of love, scorn instead of honor, and yet he still died with a smile on his face. Itachi Uchiha is my hero.**

 **Question: Which character in _Naruto_ would you hate to be reborn into?**

 **See you next time!**


End file.
